News Headlines:

10 civilians including 3 children killed in Mali unrest: HRW

13 Jan 2013, 0838 hrs IST, AGENCIES

Ten
civilians including three children have been killed in fighting in the central
Mali city of Konna between the Malian army backed by French forces and Islamist
rebels, Human Rights Watch said, citing area residents.

"Konna residents told Human
Rights Watch that some 10 civilians were killed in the fighting including three
children who drowned trying to cross the river to safety," said the rights
group's Corinne Dufka in a message sent to AFP in Dakar on Saturday (January
12).

She also raised concerns
about children who she said have been recruited by the Islamists as soldiers.
"Other children recruited by the Islamists in Gao have been wounded and possibly
died in the fighting," she said, referring to a city in north Mali under the
control of the radical Islamists, some of whom are linked to Al-Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Dufka,
a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that in the past few months
children from Mali and also neighbouring Niger have been taken by the Islamists,
and "must be immediately released." "Furthermore, the Islamists' threats to
retaliate against French non-combatants, including hostages, are totally
reprehensible and would constitute war crimes. All parties involved in this
conflict -- Islamist groups, Malian and French army, and (regional) troops --
should do all they can to protect civilians and strictly adhere to the law of
war," she said.

Mali's army
took back the key town of Konna from Islamist rebels yesterday aided by French
air power, with Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal each pledging 500 troops to an
African force tasked with regaining the north of the country now controlled by
the Islamists.

The battle left
dozens of dead rebels strewn across the area, according to witnesses and the
Malian military. The
French military
suffered one casualty, a pilot killed carrying out air raids, said French
Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.